Feeders for Thamnophis Radix (Plains Snake)

[BeardedIggy]

as of late i have been feeding my Snakes Fish i have been trying to stay away from fish with thiamine(sp?) but i kind of want to do with out fish all together. i know you can feed mice (pinkie,fuzzy,ect.) but i want to know what is the best option while still being the cheapest option for garter snkaes and where do you get your feeders from?

i have an adult female and adult male and one adolecent

[Stefan-A]

i have been trying to stay away from fish with thiamine(sp?)
Thiaminase.

[drache]

I don't know about Canada, but here in the US, chopping up a fish is more economical than rodents - even at bulk prices
I try to offer my snakes both, but many have preferences

[ssssnakeluvr]

variety is the best for them..... as for fish, get trout and salmon filets and chop them into meal size portions and freeze them. I feed mine fish, rodents, and worms....good variety

[infernalis]

I don't know about Canada either but I just ordered 400 mice from rodent pro and all combined it still works out to .25 per pinky.

Yes I breed my own mice, but I have a hard time taking babies away from moms 10 minutes after they are born, so we always have a steady supply of larger mice for the Python, Corn and milk snakes.

I wanted to start feeding a better diet, They all take Salmon and Tilapia fine now as well, and I found a store that sells frozen fillet for a dollar a slab, its safe cheap food.

The adults get treated to a cut up night crawler from time to time as well.

My Radix all readily grab cut up fish off the tongs, and I am sure they will grab up the scented pinks.

Is there a rodent supplier up your way??

If you only have one snake, get a pair of adult mice, they will produce just about the right amount of pinks to sustain one snake.

If you live in a reptile petting zoo, it gets real complex:eek:

[BeardedIggy]

i have 3 snakes but i am considering getting rid of 2 or maybe one no suppliers for rodents that i know of i cant breed rodents my mother would kill me if she found out i was breeding rodents for snake food i could do salmon.

for an adult Female Garter are pinkie mice to big? does it need to be chopped? what about adult males? and adolecent Garters?

[duh duh duh]

you can get bulk frozen pinkies pretty easy on the net.

check out Welcome - Reptiles Canada (http://www.reptilescanada.com) and someone there can help you out.

Where in Canada are you?

pinkies are definately NOT too big. I think you could feed an adult garter a regular sized adult mouse. Certainly pinkies and hoppers are no problem.

[BeardedIggy]

wait an adult female garter can eat a full on mouse? what about males? and jeuveniles?

[infernalis]

wait an adult female garter can eat a full on mouse? what about males? and jeuveniles?

I would only give them pinkies or peach fuzzy mice....

[duh duh duh]

I have vivid memories of catching garter snakes at our family's ranch while we were kids. They would always be caught at the same place and always had a belly full of mice - usually pinkies, but occasionally full grown as well.

It has to be a healthy, full grown snake to take an adult, but I've seen it first hand.

The point being that you certainly do not need to cut up pinkies for an adult or even juvenille garter. I'd even take my chances trying a pinky on a young one as well.

[drache]

small pinks aren't any bigger than large guppies or minnows - they're a bit more complicated to eat though
so in addition to scenting, I also make sure in the beginning that the rodent is a bit smaller in relation to the snake than what I might offer to an experienced rodent eater of the same size
my adult females eat adult mice and rat pups without problems
both of my radix took unscented pinky strips as babies
yours should be big enough to take whole pinks
if you have doubt, you can take off the legs pretty easily when they're still frozen, and render them physically more manageable

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

pinkes are not too small at all...

but if fed right, your female garter snake can get longer and thicker than the average adult cornsnake. I held a few at the Daytona show that were that big.... amazing! A snake that size can easily eat an adult mouse... but I don't recommend it, due to the hair... which is not digested. Garters are not prone to eating hairy things normally, so it scares me.

[BeardedIggy]

cool thanks for the information how often do i need to feed them? because this last week i fed them about 3-4 times out of the week so if i was feeding pinkies how often would i need to feed and how many?

[duh duh duh]

because garters have a higher metabolism than say boa constrictors, they will need to eat more often, but smaller meals.

Every other day would make sense - a pinky or two at a time.

[BeardedIggy]

cool that will make it easier for me ill try and get some eating vodeos and post them on youtube :D

[Stefan-A]

cool that will make it easier for me ill try and get some eating vodeos and post them on youtube :D
That's the spirit. There aren't enough garter feeding videos on YouTube. :D

[jitami]

If you're feeding rodents, adults only need to be fed once a week. Babies 2 or 3 times a week.

[BeardedIggy]

well i fed my adult female a pinkie on friday i might go tomarrow to the petstore and feed my snakes pinkie mice and then let them go for the week

[jitami]

Your adult female can probably do two fuzzies and the adult male one fuzzy or two pinkes... prey should be one or two items about the size of the snake's head. Then they should be totally fine for a week. It's a little tricky to figure out exactly what they need at first, but you'll have it down in no time :)

[BeardedIggy]

what about the smaller guy/girl he wont eat anything when we were at work my co-worker says he hit him with the weed-eater by accident his left eye is a drak color single shade nothing else used to be bright red but it has gotten darker.

im not sure if i should keep him i might send back into the wild

[Garter_Gertie]

Huummmm.... Bet there's someone here that will care for that poor injured thing.

I hope. It may not fare so well out in the wild.

How close are you to Kevie and Anje?

Kevie? Anjie?

[BeardedIggy]

no idea if i can get the snake eating i will keep it (more then likely) ill keep it anyways cause i cant send a sick animal away, we will see how this snake fares out if it can eat pinkies i will try feeding a pinkie or two

[jitami]

He's probably going to lose his eye. Most snakes seem to do fine with one eye :) Just watch it for signs of infection. I would go with something a bit smaller for him, whatever he'll eat. That may be just worms or fish at first. You can always switch him to mice later... or who knows, maybe he'll take to mice right away. It really is a good deal of trial and error with these guys until you figure out what works just right for your individual snake... and even then, sometimes they'll throw you a curve ball just to keep things interesting :) As long as they have water, snakes can go a good long while without eating, so just keep trying things, several failed feeding attempts really aren't that big of a deal in the long run. Good luck and keep asking questions :)

[duh duh duh]

where in Canada are you at?

[BeardedIggy]

British Columbia i will be going to the petstore today they dont sell earth worms so illjust get some fish for the small guy and fuzzie/pinkie mice for the others.

[duh duh duh]

hmmmmm too bad. If you were in alberta I'd have considered rescuing him. Good luck with him.

[BeardedIggy]

i have some friends living in Alberta, today i bought 2 fuzzie 3 pinkie and 5 fish is it possible that my snakes arent hungry because all 3 of them would not eat the mice :S i feed them seperately in case anyone is wondering